Burned Dreams
by Dragonangelx003
Summary: Team 7 has been dealt another blow from Akatsuki and Sasuke. Sakura, for one, has had enough of it. Oneshot. Rated for language and alcohol consumption. Some fluff and angst.


Her hand paused as she reached for the doorknob to her apartment. If she walked in there she would drop her bag by the door, kick her shoes off, shower, make some tea, take an aspirin, and go to bed.

Sakura couldn't do that tonight. As physically exhausted as she was, she knew that she would not get to sleep for many hours, if at all. She didn't want to sleep, not after the dream she had last night. Not after today.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Happily beaming down on the streets of Konoha, the sun warmed the dirt beneath her bare, 12 year old feet as she ran. Behind her was Naruto, chasing her. Not in anger but in play. Naruto, in his pumpkin colored outfit grinned ear to ear as he gave chase._

_Rounding a corner she dashed down an alley way, not trying too hard to escape her pursuer. As she neared the end of the alley a figure appeared before her which she ungracefully stumbled over. _

_Lifting her head to apologize she stopped breathing when she saw who it was. It was Sasuke. Not as the pupil of Orochimaru, or the traitor of the Leaf Village, but the boy she once pinned over. Still in his blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on its back, he smiled, actually smiled at her! He had never smiled at her, or anyone for that matter (unless he was about to tear their arms out of the sockets). This, however, was a genuine smile. Free of malice or sarcasm. _

_He picked himself off the ground, dusted himself off, and held out a hand to help her up, still smiling. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After that the dream faded away to be replaced by another she didn't remember. When she awoke she was in high spirits with renewed hope that she and the rest of Team 7 could someday bring the brooding Uchiha back to them.

Until she got to work.

The hospital was in chaos with wounded shinobi. Tsunade was busy with the worst of the injuries while the other nurses and healing-nin tended to others. Sakura helped where she could, not fully understanding what had happened until she came upon her former teacher, Kakashi. His injuries were minor compared to others, just a few deep gashes in his back, a senbon in his side, and burns on his arms. While she was healing him he looked up at her from the bed and his mismatched eyes told her exactly what had happened.

Sasuke.

Her heart sank. Kakashi told her how he and a group of ANBU were investigating some Akatsuki activity west of the village when they were ambushed. Two were dead and over a dozen were severely injured. Sasuke was responsible for the two deaths and most of the burns.

When Naruto found out he immediately ran off to ground zero, hoping to confront his former rival and teammate. Nobody had heard from him for hours. Sai was out on a mission and wouldn't be back for a few days. She doubted he was even aware yet of what happened.

"I'm sorry Sakura." Kakashi said as he got up, not even rubbing his healed wounds.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she only nodded, not knowing if she could keep her voice from cracking.

"Sakura-san, we need you in the O.R." Said a nurse who popped her head in the door before disappearing just as quickly. By the time Sakura turned back to her sensei, he was gone. Vanishing silently like the Jounin he was.

The next few hours Sakura had her hands somewhere between the spleen and stomach of an ANBU so badly burnt she could barely tell who he was. He was now recovering in the ICU.

Sakura tossed her green paper scrubs in the garbage and took a moment to take a breath. The air stank of disinfectant so much that her eyes watered…or that's what she told herself anyway.

"Hey forehead," Ino said, patting Sakura on the back. "Go home. Everyone who's been healed needs only time and observation now."

Sakura nodded. "Thanks Ino. Are you working the overnight shift?"

"Yea, there's a big pot of coffee on already. We'll be fine."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was already after midnight when she made it to downtown Konoha. The streets were quiet but for a few patrons looking for a late night meal or drink. Having no real destination she quietly wandered the street until a pair of familiar charka signatures pulled her towards a small hole-in-the-wall bar tucked quietly at the end of the street.

As expected, Kakashi and Naruto looked up at her from their drinks when she entered and the third chair scooted away from the table, welcoming her to sit. She thudded heavily into the seat and regarded her friends silently.

"What will you be having tonight Dear?" Asked the waitress sweetly.

"Hot Gekkeikan, please." Sakura asked as politely as she could. The waitress nodded and brought her Sake before the others ever uttered a word. Kakashi was halfway through a glass of what looked like vodka and Naruto was already on his third shot of dark rum.

"I couldn't find him." Naruto said, breaking the silence. "The whole area looked like a hurricane had hit it, but no sign of Sasuke or Akatsuki." He paused and looked up at Sakura, eyes hollow, and bitter. "I hear we lost two ANBU today."

It was more a statement than a question, so Sakura just nodded.

"He used Chidori." Both students turned to their Sensei. Sakura just now noticed that he had his mask pulled down. She had seen it before while healing him over the years, but it was a very rare sight otherwise. "The two he killed, he used Chidori." He sighed heavily and grasped his drink tightly. "If I knew that he would use it for killing fellow Leaf shinobi I would have never…"

"But you didn't know." Naruto said, finishing another shot. "There's always a chance a shinobi will go bad. The Fourth taught Snake Breath when he was young, but he also taught Ba-Chan and Ero-Sennin." He paused. "It seems history has repeated itself."

There was another long silence, during the time Sakura finished her sake' and ordered another. Naruto's words dug deep. _History repeating itself. _She thought of the Sasuke she knew from childhood, the Sasuke she saw in her minds eye, the Sasuke she…thought she loved. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was her sense catching up with her. "We're never going to bring him back."

The men looked at her like they hadn't heard her properly. "We're never going to bring him back." She said more clearly. "For over eight years I've been chasing after someone I thought I was in love with." She looked at Naruto… "You've been chasing after a 'friend' who never showed you anything even akin to friendship." …and Kakashi. "And you are trying to fix your mistakes. Thinking you could have changed him, made him an honorable Shinobi. Thinking that if you had done something different he wouldn't have turned on Konoha! Well I for one don't give a fuck anymore!" She slammed her hand onto the table, denting it. "We are chasing a phantom. An idea of what we thought Sasuke was. He may have been our teammate, but a friend, he never was. I am sick of being heartbroken and I am sick of seeing the two people I care most about in this world being heartbroken as well. If I ever see Sasuke again, it had better be in a fucking body bag!"

At this point the two men at the table were leaning back as far as their chairs would allow, as if to move away from a roaring fire. When Sakura sat down and ordered a third sake from the unnerved waitress, they finally sat forward and took a moment to embrace her words.

After ordering another round for themselves, Naruto let out a laugh. Kakashi raised a questionable eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

By now Naruto's laughter was at the point where he almost looked in pain. "I…ahahahahaha…kissed Sasuke! AAAAHhhahahahahaha!"

Sakura choked on her drink, sputtering for a moment before asking, "What?!"

Naruto's laughter died down to a manageable roar as he wiped his watering eyes with his sleeve. "On… *gasp*…on assignment day. Just moments before our teams were formed I was glaring at him from inches away. Over you, I have to admit, Sakura. And somebody bumped my back and pushed me into his face. It was horrible at the time, but it was worth it to remember the horrified look on his face. He looked like he wanted to kill me… even then." The last sentence made Naruto's smile fade.

"Jiraya tried to warn me. He went through the same thing when Orochimaru went rogue. He told me it was a fools quest and it would cause nothing but heartache. I wish he were here to tell him that he was right." He raised his shot to toast and downed it, not even grimacing anymore at the burn.

"Tsunade told me the same." Sakura said to herself.

"I should have seen it from the start." Kakashi said to no one.

"Alright! Slate wiping time." Sakura raised a glass, her fingers already feeling fuzzy around it. "To new beginnings and two men who have never let me down."

Kakashi held his drink up. "To the best Kunochi I know, and the next Hokage."

Naruto waved over one last drink and held it up to his teammate and sensei. "To…um…I'm no good at this. Oh…to the girl who I will always chase after, no matter how many times she beats me up. Tooooooo… to the best Shinobi and the second biggest pervert I've ever met. AND to Sai, the socially inept third member this team should have had from the start! Kampai!"

"Kampai!"

"Kampai!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sakura awoke the next morning as the sun beamed in through the curtains of her window. She didn't remember making her way home or getting into bed last night after their toast, but she also didn't expect to have her right arm pinned.

She looked over to find Naruto, fully clothed and sound asleep on her arm, snoring lightly. Across the room in her reading chair was her sensei, mask down and head propped up by his hand.

Carefully she pried her arm out from under the blondes head, careful not to wake him and made her way to the kitchen to put on some coffee. Despite the hangover, she felt amazing. Like a weight had been lifted.

As she hopped into the shower to wash away the funk of a night of drinking, she also washed away her worry, concern, and heartache. Somehow, she knew her boys would feel the same.

…after some coffee of course.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yay! Done!

So tell me what you think? The last two stories I wrote were smut ridden, so this was a nice change in my mind. Not that I'm done writing smut by any means TwT. I love input so comment away!


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